Interview I did after my keynote at MarkeTech Grow Nebraska event! Blog originally posted at: siliconprairienews.com

Brian Fanzo, a self-described social media geek and technology evangelist, says that your story is everything.

“If you want your content to be shared out, people need to know your story,” he said.

Fanzo was the keynote speaker at the annual MarkeTech Conference in Kearney last week. MarkeTech was co-sponsored by AIM and GROW Nebraska and attended by about 175 small business owners and organizations that support them.

Fanzo’s web site is called iSocialFanz.com. “You have to Think Like A Fan,” he said.

Fanzo said that social media, particularly streaming video, is central to engaging and building that community.

“Engagement is the social proof that you care,” he said. “People want to know they’ve been heard.”

Fanzo was asked what is up and coming in social media.

“Video across the board,” he said. “Video is the great equalizer.”

Fanzo walks the talk. He hosts around 2,000 live video events a year across multiple channels, and set up a live Periscope stream of his keynote at MarkeTech.

“Nearly two-thirds of consumers are likely to buy a product after watching a video about it,” Fanzo said. “That number will go way higher with a live stream allowing customer interaction.”

This doesn’t mean you need to jump on every available social media channel right away.

“You have to crawl before you walk,” he said. “You don’t have to be on every channel, but you need to listen on all channels. That helps you understand where your customers will be tomorrow, while you market and sell for today.”

Fanzo also recommends repurposing a single video across multiple platforms, keeping in mind that no two social media video apps are the same.

“One of my team members will take the Periscope video of this presentation and scrub it for YouTube,” he said. “Then we’ll edit some 60-second clips for Instagram.”

With all the free social media channels available, there is a temptation to just jump in and go. But Fanzo cautions that you need a strategy.